fly in the face of
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Openly at variance with what is expected.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
NME flew in the face of such reactionary tosh.
But such things fly so flagrantly in the face of known history, so flagrantly in the face of human experience, so flagrantly in the face of simple probability, that they impose an inordinate strain upon credulity.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “fly in the face of” mean?
Openly at variance with what is expected.
Is “fly in the face of” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.